For example, an accident of amputating a finger, a hand, an arm, a foot or a leg might happen such that the finger or the limb is wedged by a door or a machine at home or in a factory or the like. In a case where the finger or the limb is amputated due to the accident, tissue such as a blood vessel at the cut portion is in a crushed state, unlike in a case where the finger or the limb is cut by a keen edged knife or the like. As a result of this, conventionally, in order to replant the amputated portions, the blood vessels are joined and blood circulation confirmed by the use of a Doppler or a laser Doppler blood flow meter. However, this approach requires one highly skilled in technology and with sufficient experience to join the blood vessels and confirm blood circulation by the use of the blood flow meter.
In addition, in order to confirm whether or not the blood vessels are appropriately joined, for example, in a case where the amputated portion is the finger, the patient who is already suffering from the pain of the amputated portion is compelled to suffer further pain because a distal end of the finger is pricked so as to confirm whether or not the blood circulation is secured.
One known device to confirm the blood circulation in the blood vessel is a device for an image processing on a reflected light from the living body, to verify the position of the vein and to aid intravenous injection. However, since an image of the artery cannot be reflected by this device, it is not possible to fully make the most use of this device in case of suturing the amputated finger or limb. In addition, it is necessary for this device to conduct image processing in a manner that eliminates an influence from external light.
Furthermore, there is also a case where foreign material enters the inside of the living body as a result of an accident at home or in a factory. In this case, in order to extract the foreign material, the position of the foreign material has to be confirmed first. The position of the foreign material can be verified by the use of X-rays, however, it is difficult to conduct a surgery of extracting the foreign material with confirming the position of the foreign material in real time while irradiating the X-rays that are harmful to humans. Similarly, in a case of observing the inside of the living body through the use of an X-ray CT or an MRI, since the X-ray CT or the MRI is large-scale and the X-rays have to be used or a powerful magnetic field has to be applied, it is not possible to bring these devices in a surgery room and to conduct the surgery while observing the inside of the living body in real time.
Furthermore, in order to insert a catheter into a blood vessel, conventionally an angiographic agent is infused into the blood vessel so as to confirm the position of the blood vessel and then the catheter is inserted into the blood vessel by a doctor, depending on his or her memory concerning the position of the blood vessel. However, it also requires an advanced technique and experience to conduct an insertion of a catheter.
In addition, if affected by diabetes, one of the three major lifestyle-related diseases, the patient is superimposed on arteriosclerosis and the blood vessel is narrowed and resulting in the hematogenous disorder. In the worst case, the patient might have no other choice but to cut his or her lower limb. As a result of this, it is important to monitor the blood circulation with time.
As a technique for supporting a surgery, the Patent Document 1 discloses a technique wherein an exciting light having a specific wavelength region and a visible light are irradiated alternately on a subject to which the angiographic agent is applied, a fluorescent image to which the exciting light is irradiated and an ordinary image are obtained alternately by means of the imaging device, the obtained fluorescent image is threshold-processed by a predetermined threshold and the blood vessel image is extracted, and a composite image that is made by superimposing the extracted blood vessel image on the obtained ordinary image.
However, this technique requires the angiographic agent be injected into the subject and also requires complicated image processing.